Fat is a type of crazy

9 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Ok, you asked me personally so let me answer you. Obviously my answer is my personal opinion and I am not a representative of dirty old men. ???? 

I agree with you that some behavior is not suitable for everywhere. What you described sounded to me like a situation maybe in a beer bar in Pattaya. As far as I am concerned that is about the same thing as sitting somewhere inside a dark bar in other places. And then it's still up to those people involved. If both want to do what they do then let them do it. We don't have to watch what they are doing. Thailand is not a good place to visit for people who don't want to see what they will call immoral behavior.

I don't have a stereotype image of women. I know a couple of successful women and sometimes I do business with them. Often I like to talk to them in the same way like I like to talk to intelligent educated men. And many of those women talk to me and hire me again. So I can't really be so bad.

But at the same time I have no interest to meet those women outside of work and certainly I have no interest to go out with them. Because if I go out with a girl then I want to have fun and I don't want to talk about rocket science. I know some guys are turned on by smart women, I am not one of those guys.

And about thinking: I am pretty sure I mentioned this story in this forum already: Once I had a gf who behaved erratically. I thought long and hard why she would behave in the way she did. Finally I asked her what the logic behind her behavior is. She looked at me with her beautiful eyes and asked me something like: "Why do you think there is any logic and why do you think I think about what I am doing?" That was an eye opener for me. Since then I don't expect logical behavior or thinking from people, and especially girls, anymore. It made my life a lot easier not to expect logic behavior or logic thinking. 

 

And about the safety net for women (I know you didn't accuse me): I think it is fair when men have to support their children. But IMHO support should be necessary support and not more than that. I met a couple of guys who were married and then divorced and they lost a lot and then they still had to pay huge amounts of ex-wife and child support. A lot more support then if the woman would have worked in a simple job. That is IMHO wrong. Support, yes. Financing a good life for the ex: No!

 

And now let's concentrate on the beauty of the Thai girls!

I agree with much of what you say. If you can get a young girl and you are both happy sounds good to me.

I think what Hummin described was different to a couple having a kiss in a dark corner and so that was why I made  my comment. 

I just come back to the old chestnut that being a feminist can simply mean letting women do their thing such that they are subject to the same freedoms and restraints as men. Some types of women will love the housewife life. Some types won't and never did. As long as I can find one that makes me happy then other women can be successful and make mistakes same as men. 

Enough of this stuff. 

24 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Are you claiming ......

You don't have a low opinion of women?

Yes. We all have emotions and histories and I don't like all sorts of people and situations. I have low opinion of the actions of some women who done me wrong. But even most of those situations turned out fine. I am not scared of them.  I am not worried if they have the same freedoms as me. 

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Imagine our white knight going over to the old guy and the young girl and telling him he should take his hands off her.

And then the girl probably reacts like: No, let him do that. It makes him happy and I make a lot of money.

It's not about being a white knight. It's just about a certain dignity about how you act in public. The fact that the girl is happy with it does not make the sight of a guy slobbering and touching up a woman in front of others suddenly acceptable. You lie with dogs you get fleas so I suppose the answer is not to go i.e. you go to a place where that is acceptable then you see what you see.

You talk about traditional women's roles of being in your kitchen and I have no problem with wanting it. I like it too. But there seems a different side to your opinions, such as that thai women don't have thoughts, and you seem happy with traditions that  limit  women's  freedoms and personal choices. But touch up a woman in front of others and traditions don't matter.

Others seem happy there are no safety nets for women with kids and no follow up on child support in Thailand.  Maybe so that women have to look for alternatives like prostitution or going with an old unattractive guy.

You put it all together and it seems less about being after traditional values and more about having a low opinion of women. And maybe about themselves.

Apologies to be serious. Just call me Buzz Killington. 

I did eat salmon in Australia farmed in Tasmania which is probably the best of farmed fish. Supposed to be a super food rich in omega 3 fats. But a study released recently reported in Australian media is that the health benefits are hugely reduced on farmed fish such that the bad fats are significant. Then they say wild salmon has a lot of plastic.   I eat Australian barramundi which is a good fish, especially compared to Asia barramundi,  but that is farmed too. We have hoki or blue grenadier which is wild from New Zealand at a good price too. Not much help for Thai's but you might be able to buy the barramundi or hoki. 

3 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

As an American, British sports are out of my "league" ???? and the only music reference that leaps to mind is Gordon Lightfoot's 1974 release of "Sundown".

The song was no. 1 in the States and the sport happened in the states. The spelling is a clue too. 

21 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

In their rolls they weren't satisfied. Son down in 2 minutes. 

I got a confused face so too cryptic. Think music and sport. 

In their rolls they weren't satisfied. Son down in 2 minutes. 

41 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

The Australian Grubbyment gave Novax the go by issuing him a valid visa and have since retracted the visa after some snowflakes had a little cry.The woman tennis player actually played a warmup tournament before her visa issued by the same Grubbymennt and so after retracting Novax's visa decided to retract her visa.Smells a lot like political point scoring.The same Grubbyment said vaccination was the only way out of the pandemic and to flatten the infamous curve, well said curve is looking decidedly unflat with 110,000 infections reported today which coincides with a 90+% national vaccination rate, so instead of reducing infections the stats might indicate that vaccinations have in fact increased the infection rate?Statistics are like that and can be interpreted in many different ways.The reported world leading medical system (as boasted by Scotty from marketing) took elderly covid infected patients from hospitals and placed them back into their aged care homes to infect many other elderly residents hundreds of which died.The medical experts said that Corona viruses don't mutated very quickly, seems they were wrong about that also.The medical experts have gotten so many things wrong it's hard to have any faith in them anymore and the more they say trust us the more I think about people who say trust me I'm from the Grubbyment and I'm here to help. 

Hi Far Flung

I think when they offer a visa it is based on the premise that the information held within it is correct. When they checked it at the airport on arrival it it seems he couldn't back it up. It appears to be Tennis Australia's fault though you think a tennis player like him might check independently. .

Australia went hard on the tougher types of covid of course, particularly when there was no vaccine, or when it was being rolled out. The roll out was slow, and there were bad errors with a few nursing homes out of 100's or 1000's as you say,  but states did a good job keeping people safe. Thanks Dan. I was not impressed with some limits to travel between states though which got a bit silly. 

Now of course it's a weaker but more contagious variant and people have had the chance to get vaccinated and lockdowns are pretty much done and its up to the individual to stay safe. I haven't heard that being vaccinated could increase the infection rate. Heard the opposite. 

The experts have done their best. Vaccines were created.  I heard them in fact say it is normal for it to mutate. They got so much right. Thanks Dr Fauci. 

I think the Australian government has done good in a difficult situation. 

9 minutes ago, Bruno123 said:

Easier to just check page two of this very thread. 

That hotel you note has lots of 1 star reviews on Google. Looks like the hotel just goes after the low hanging fruit i.e. those who can be easily sued in Thailand or those who are likely to react to a threat. Good for these people for making a noise. 

It's a good time for avocado lovers in Australia. The farmers went in big and now there's too many. One dollar. 

6 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Does believing the "science" not require faith?

Not if you do not believe but keep room for doubt. Keep an open mind.

We all probably fall into a bit of faith in different aspects of life due to human nature, laziness, etc.

On the other hand though, it's best not to let cynicism, or faith in other areas of life, e.g. following a political party or friends advice or loud noises on the internet or love and hate, to stop you accepting what is likely to be correct. Otherwise you can become stuck and it can make you question things to the point of ridiculousness.    

Information from sources that have proven reliability, or where there is evidence that a new source has done the hard work, is likely to be correct and you can rely on that advice.

From time to time a reassessment is required.

Our own judgements of what is likely to be correct are fallible too so just keep an open mind. A bit obvious but there it is. 

This post is not about Tippaporn's theories, but, some old friends were into ideas and theories based on consciousness and form. New Age stuff. Some you might call hippies others just were 'normal' but had a crystal or two and few books. 

It seemed gentler back in the day and not into more extreme stuff. Today new age hippies can be a  bit militant  on covid, 5G, and stuff. 

The old new agers liked books by Dan Millman, Edgar Cayce, Louise Hay and others. More recently there was the book The Secret that looked at the idea of consciousness and conscious thought influencing your life. Dreams as predictions. Wishing and manifesting your life better.

To me it was a bit entertaining but then just seemed like wishful thinking. Because it never got out of first gear of ideas and into second gear with some proof.

Even gentle ideas, that take you away from science and towards a type of faith, can be harmful to critical thinking and focus in my opinion.

With a few government controls, to stop rogue scientists going to far, science has to be for the best. 

20 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Didn't work for China and Aus did it, just exploded later

You could argue it did work for Australia. Kept numbers of cases low before vaccine and for most dangerous strains. Now lots of cases after opening up but 90 per cent vaccinated and omicrom means that so far not too big a deal.

7 minutes ago, swm59nj said:

Retired at age 62 in America.  No issues with retirement income or health insurance.  I didn’t move to Thailand because I disliked  America or couldn’t afford to live there. 
I always wanted to experience living overseas.  All of the places I did want to move to did not have retirement type visas.  So decided to try it out by moving here.  I did visit Bangkok for three months before moving here.  Staying in a hotel.  It seemed ok, so I took the chance and moved here months later.

I have been living here about two years now.  Without going into detail, it’s not for me.  So I will eventually move back to America.  America isn’t perfect.  But it’s better than here. 
 

I would be interested to hear your top 5 things that you like and don't like about living in Thailand. If you feel like saying. I am in a  similar boat but have a few years of work to go. 

9 hours ago, Tippaporn said:

 

 

I have stated often that, in my humble opinion, one of science's major failings is in it's complete disregard of any of life's other valid elements other than the purely objective.  It leads to viewing life as purely and mindlessly mechanistic, which it is not.  (One can imagine all sorts of nonsensical and troubling ideas sprouting from that viewpoint.)  Consciousness, which is what we are (anyone care to deny?) has diddly to do with the mechanics of life, in science's view.  Completely, totally, 100% backwards in my opinion.

 

I have seen something similar in the god thread. I guess the question is how can the subjective be acceptable if, in your mind, the objective is not? Why would something be true in your mind or consciousness but not objectively true?

Science doesn't have an opinion on consciousness except what is observable. Observation and objectivity aren't dirty words or a short cut. It's the hard way. 

I think at the end of the day you have theories which may or may not have merit. You  can't prove them correct at this stage either because they are not correct or because our ability to test such concepts isn't there yet. You have to cop it.

But don't blame scientific method. All it is is testing a theory to see if it fits the real world. Surely you theories are part of the real world. How could we accept the concept of subjectivity into science without accepting faith. I am not looking to get into a debate about theories but just to say that it feels like you are fighting science because your theories can't be proven. It's not sciences fault. 

1 hour ago, Adumbration said:

Ok Gazza is a divorced bricklayer with 2 kids.  His wife ran off with an electrician because it is a better class of tradie.

 

Gazza earns 72K pa before tax.

 

So 2 kids 16% child support (assuming kids from same mother).  Then payroll tax circa 25% on 72K.

 

So lets say 43K after tax.

 

Gazza cant work overtime because his tax rate would therefore go up and with child support on top he would get about 35cents on every dollar for his overtime.

 

so... 42.5K less (on your figures) and annual costs:

 

water 1k 

elect 1k

gas 1k

car 1K

internet and phone 1.5K 

 

so 37K

 

Gazza lost his house in divorce and can't afford to buy another because he hasn't got enough for 20% deposit.  Median house price in most cities in Oz is now over 1 million.

 

So he is renting a modest two bedroom bungalow in the burbs (has to have 2 bedrooms or kids are not allowed to stay with him during his custody allotments)

 

Rent 500 per week so 25K pa

 

so 12K

 

Contractors licence to work as brickie 500

Tradies insurance                                  1k5

 

Payments on leased ute 12K

 

So minus 2K a year remaining for Gazza to feed himself, cloth himself, pay for fuel, take care of the kids when he has them.  Buy the kids christmas and birthday presents.  And try to date some fat bushpig....

 

Am I missing anything....

 

Oh yeah health insurance or out of pockets if he gets sick....

 

Fair points there.

Just correct a couple of things.

Tax on $72,000 is 21 per cent or less rather than 25 per cent. He can likely claim a deduction for a significant part if not all of the leased ute and his license and insurance. That would drop his taxable income to lets say $58,000 and the overall tax rate to 18 per cent. He is left with $47,500. $5000 better off in tax and $2200 less in child support. A bit better. 

If he works overtime he should get 49.5 cents in the dollar, 16 cents to his kids and 34.5 to the tax man. That includes medicare levy. Getting half and your kids getting a sixth is a bit better. 

Also you would have had to have spent money on the kids still if married and you don't have to be with your wife.  I do take your point though. 

33 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

Only flaw in your argument here is that the poor chap working in the building industry in Australia will be using 70% of his take home pay to service his mortgage.  And of course he could also be paying child support at a (pre tax) rate of 32% for the first kid and 48% for the second.  Rates 10-15k per year, electricity 2k per quarter, water 1k per quarter.  Car registration and compulsory insurance 2K per year.  And if Gazza the bricklayer wants a girl for the night well that is going to run him 1-2K as well.  Oh and what if Gaz is a smoker....what is a pack of fags in Oz nowadays 50-60 dollars.  I don't smoke but one of my Aussie expats mates does and yesterday he told me he buys black market malaysian smokes by the carton (10 packs..200 fags) for 300baht a carton.

Your figures seem awfully high. No way mortgage should be that high with current interest rates. Though it is tough to buy now. I live in an average house and rates are $3000 which is a bit high because I am in semi bushland and fewer properties to share the rates. Most rates in Melbourne should be about that or are less. Electricity $250 a quarter,  water $250 a quarter, gas $250 a quarter,  car registration and insurance together are about $1100, for 12 months. Smokes are expensive. Big taxes. 

Google says you pay 12 per cent of gross income for one and 16 per cent for two. Sounds not too bad but I suppose after tax it is difficult but it's not a tax it's going to the kids. You hear the opposite in Thailand where father's are dead beat dads and the mother is left with baby and has to certain jobs to get by.  

55 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Been there, done that, but 80+hr a week.  Still had a great quality of life, just little less time to enjoy it.

 

Along with 2 back to back 12 shifts (7pm-7am) at restaurant on the weekends at 15 yrs old together with working 3 nights a week till 1 am.  All illegal, as didn't even have work papers, and when legal, at 16, (not allowed to work more than 4 hrs a day, or past 7pm), nothing changed.  And teachers in HS used to wonder why I fell asleep in class, if I showed up at all.  Doesn't include the child labor laws I broke since about 10 yrs old. 

 

Ups & downs along the way, 30 something yrs old and living in an unfinished basement, and then later, the opposite, paying more income tax than most working people earned, the few times I hit the top 5% tax brackets.

 

Quality of life didn't change, just had more than enough vs barely enough, sometimes living on CCs.

Only difference with more $$$, bit more comfortable living & more toys.

You were probably ambitious and worked hard. As you say more stuff often doesn't mean more happiness. 

I just like to see a society where even those who do a normal job through their life can live a dignified life. That's tough in countries where the wages are often so low and people such as teachers need second jobs.

I am no communist or leftie  but I like that in Australia those workers in the building industry, for example, get paid well and the property developer can still get rich. As compared to Thailand where the property developer has such low costs and the normal workers struggle. That's where I think the free market alone can lack fairness. 

7 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Anyone who bases their 'quality of life' on income or possession ... doesn't understand what quality means.  

 

The only difference between being a 'have' or 'have not', would be comfort level.

 

More than a few millionaires have off'd themselves ... guess having too much money didn't help their quality of life.

Maybe in places like Australia but the difference between a have or have not in the US or Thailand can mean the difference between going hungry or not. Or the difference between working 60 hour weeks for terrible pay or not. 

29 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

My Thai children appear to have a better life in Thailand, than my English children have in England.

Education is one of the false gods of the western world, beyond the ability to read and write not much point in further education for 90% of the population.

Education is often important to learn how to express yourself. Technical degrees are often worthwhile. In my case my degree was a bit of a waste of time though. I did an economics degree and what we learnt was just common sense such as  supply and demand, a bit of psychology and marketing, nothing much. Economists seem to get it wrong more than 50 per cent of the time. The accounting part was somewhat helpful and it did get me a job. But in three years of economics there wasn't much of substance. 

31 minutes ago, Smithson said:

Average house price in Australia is  $1 million, plus most things fun are frowned upon, especially if the involve risk or are enjoyed by males.

Good if you own property. Shows confidence in the Australian way of life. Lots of good paying jobs if you work hard. 

They'll always be some who frown but just ignore them. Unless your risky behaviour risks others. I think Thai society seems a bit moralistic ..not sure that the average Australian is. 

Sorry if I see an anti Australian comment I have to bite.